Turn of the Year
by ZareEraz
Summary: Fem!Watanuki. Saying farewell to the Old Year and ushering in the New...a party at Yuko's shop gets a little chaotic with all the unexpected guests! Slight Watanuki/Doumeki


A/N: ZareEraz here! I had hoped to get this up earlier in the day, but it kind of got away from me! Hehe. Well, better late than never! Here's a lighthearted New Year's fic for you all! Enjoy!

Turn of the Year

Watanuki groaned, her head pounding as sunlight slipped through the crack in the door and pierced her eyes. Her eyes fluttered and she moaned again before trying to sit up. Eyes cracked, her head started swimming painfully, so much so that she flopped back down on whomever she'd been passed out on. Whoever it was groaned, but remained unconscious. Watanuki grabbed her head in an attempt to quiet her budding head ache and the pressure of her hands help steady her. She opened her eyes a little again and took a look around. They were all packed into the shop's dining room, at least a dozen people if not more, sprawled out on the floor asleep. Watanuki sat up, her hair poking out all over the place, and tried to futilely untwist her silver and blue kimono. _What happened last night? Why are all these people here? _From among the piles of bodies, the seer could just make out Yuko, the twins, Ame-Warishi, Zashiki-Warishi and her hoard of Tengu, the adorable Wari and the kimono cat lady from the Demon Parade. She could also hear Mokona calling for sake in its sleep, buried under someone's clothes or something like that. The pipe fox Mugetsu was also curled up in the corner of the room by the two oden foxes, only he was full size and with every sleeping sweep of his tail he'd push the Dream Buyer and the Nekomusume and her hoard of cats across the floor. But no one was waking up.

Watanuki sleepily looked around where she was sitting and found Kohane snuggling up to her torso, arms still wrapped around her waist. The girl had grown taller since the last time the raven had seen her and Kohane's had now fell to her waist. She reached down and stroked her head softly, smiling at the cute sleeping face of her friend. Someone shifted next to her and Watanuki turned to see that she'd been sleeping on Doumeki, presumably snuggling up to his chest. She groaned, knowing that she'd never hear the end of it from Yuko, but whatever. They were dating after all, so it didn't really need to matter except that Yuko loved to tease her. The seer looked around again as last night's memories drifted in and out of her head.

_"__Watanuki!~ I need more brandy!" Yuko called from the porch of the dining hall, sprawled all over the floor in her New Year's kimono. The elaborate get up consisted of two under robes in festive pinks and purples with the outer kimono being a shiny gold embroidered with red flowers and a red obi. The witch's hair was wrapped into a golden chrysanthemum-like hair piece, her signature front bangs flowing down by her chest. Bells jingled from her hair, tinkling back and forth as Yuko shook with laughter. Mokona echoed her call for alcohol, hopping from side to side on its rabbit feet. _

_ "__Hurry up, Watanuki!~ And bring me a snack!" The pork bun called, bouncing around on the porch. Watanuki didn't know how she managed it, but Yuko had somehow made the outside porch just as warm as the inside of the shop, even with snow on the ground. That was a good thing she guessed, because the seer was too busy running around, inside and out, to worry about trying to keep herself from getting a cold. _

_ "__I don't take orders from you!" She snapped back, fixing her work smock while grabbing more empty dishes. _

_ "__Yes, Watanuki!~ A snack sounds wonderful! Bring in more osechi for our guests!" Yuko called and the seer couldn't snap back because she actually did have to take orders from her. "And some for Mokona and me too!~" The shop owner winked, her flirtatious face ticking the girl off. _

_ "__Fine!" She huffed, heading to the kitchen while shouts of agreement joined Yuko's call for food. This New Year's Eve was beginning to be too much for the raven and she shook her head tiredly. Yuko had invited her, Doumeki, Wari, and Kohane for a New Year's party and of course, Watanuki was the one to do all the cooking. She'd been salving away in the kitchen for the better part of four hours and then on top of that had to cater to everyone's requests! She'd made New Year's dishes as part of the osechi tradition like boiled seaweed, fish cakes, sweet potato with chestnut, and sweetened black soybeans, along with mochi rice cakes and some sushi dishes, but then Yuko wanted sashimi, Wari asked for a French dessert (Tanpopo peeped in agreement on her shoulder) and Doumeki pretty much requested anything that was came out of the Feudal Era that was difficult to make. That wasn't even the worst part because what those three did was pretty much normal, but then unexpected guests showed up! Watanuki blamed it on the twin kodamatsu decorations at the entrance to the show. They were supposed to welcome in ancestral spirits and kami of the harvest, but true to form, Yuko's kodamatsu did the unexpected. Instead of just being symbols of welcoming, the kodamatsu invited in real, tangible spirits, leading to Watanuki having cook and serve all of Yuko's friends (and hers by default) all night long. _

_The first pair to show up was Ame-Warishi and Zashiki-Warishi. They floated down from the sky with fireflies in their wake while Watanuki was still bringing out the first course of food, the water spirit carrying the protective spirit on her umbrella. Ame-Warishi almost landed on Watanuki just out of spite but the raven skittered off the porch before that could happen. _

_ "__We're here! And it looks like we're the first too. Thanks for inviting us, Yuko." The red headed spirit helped Zashiki-Warishi down to the floor before closing her umbrella. Today she'd ditched the Goth loli get up (except the hair) and was wearing a red kimono with golden embroidery of clouds and an orange obi. Zashiki-Warishi was wearing a beautiful purple kimono with her signature checked obi and still sported the cute hair clips Watanuki had given her. The pure spirit was still holding onto her friend, blushing and giving Watanuki sideways glances. The seer had never really understood what she was to the spirit. If she were a guy it might be considered a crush, but they were both girls so it was kind of like a deep admiration thing. But whatever, as long as Zashiki-Warishi liked her, they were friends. _

_ "__Technically, they're first." Watanuki scowled and jerked a thumb at Doumeki, Wari, Tanpopo and Kohane, pissed off the Yuko didn't tell her there would be other guests. All three of them looked up in interest, knowing that an argument was about to break out. Kohane was in a pretty pink kimono, Wari in a men's dark blue kimono and Doumeki was in green. They all stopped eating, chopsticks poised in their mouths to watch their new guests. A vein was poking out from Ame-Warishi's head the second Watanuki spoke. _

_ "__Do you have to annoy me the second I get here, brat?" She hissed. _

_ "__I'm only stating the obvious. If you'd pay attention I wouldn't have too!" The seer growled back. _

_ "__Dolt!" They started yelling at each other about who's right and who's a bigger ass until Zashiki-Warishi stepped in and broke up their fight. _

_ "__Please stop fighting!" The spirit pleaded, tears forming in her eyes. Both Ame-Warishi and Watanuki gaped, the seer's face paling exponentially. _

_ "__You made her cry!" A loud voice yelled. _

_ "__Made her cry!" Another echoed. _

_ "__We won't forgive you!"_

_ "__GAH!" Watanuki ran for cover as the five Tengu dive bombed the shop, looking for her. _

_ "__No! Stop!" Zashiki-Warishi shouted, trying to get her friends to calm down. The white fans came out of tiny blue kimonos and instantly the small Tengu were zooming around on their boards hitting Watanuki wherever she ran, red scarves trailing behind them. Wari, Kohane,Mokona, Yuko and Maru and Moro just laughed at the poor girl as she was assaulted by the spirits. Doumeki just watched with an amused light in his eyes. _

_ "__It's the same as always, isn't it?" Yuko crooned, taking a bento box that Doumeki passed to her. _

_ "__Just the same!~ Just the same!~ Watanuki's a fool!~" Maru and Moro clapped their hands together and danced around in circles, their respective light blue and pink kimono swishing behind them along with Maru's hair. _

_ "__I am not a fool!" Watanuki retorted, bating and swiping at the Tengu. _

_ "__A fool!~ A fool!~ Born on April First!" The twins chanted, now running around trying to catch the Tengu. Their next guest arrived just at the chaos nearly reached its peak. All the warning Watanuki had before he was crashed into was a goldfish flying through the air. Then Nekomusume jumped to catch it in her black and red kimono, landing on Watanuki and sent both of them rolling and sprawling into the far wall. Both girls moaned in unison, rubbing the sore parts on their bodies before hissing at each other, with a goldfish in her mouth in the cat girl's case. Now the entire room was laughing, even the Tengu. _

_ "__Watanuki, you're so funny!" Yuko gleefully teased as the cat girl leapt off the seer and went to cat-lick her hair back in place. _

_ "__Shut up!" The raven stood up and dusted off her smock while glaring at her employer. Then she started wiggling around, arms noodling in the air as she laughed and made funny noises. Mugetsu chose this moment to pop out of the girl's clothes via her collar and give her a little kiss. The room exploded into laugher again and Watanuki just blushed before disappearing into the kitchen just to get away. The seer went to the sink to wash some dishes so that they could be used later if necessary, grumbling to herself about everyone's lack of sympathy, Yuko's inability to inform her that people were coming over and just complaining in general. _

_ "__Stupid Yuko, stupid Ame-Warishi, stupid Tengu! Stupid cat girl landing on me, causing a scene, even you were trouble!" Watanuki poked at the pipe fox gently in irritation. Mugetsu just cooed and rubbed himself against Watanuki's cheek._

_ "__I see this place is just as lively as ever." Watanuki nearly shrieked as a voice behind her spoke, but she didn't. Instead she flailed around like the fool everyone thought her to be and fell backwards into the sink as she turned around to see who it was. The cat lady in the teal kimono was searching through the fridge, her big ears swiveling to listen to Watanuki's antics. "I'm glad Yuko invited me today. I haven't seen her since the night of the Demon Parade. I haven't seen you either, it's been a while." The short cat woman brought out a can of beer and waved her paw at the girl in greeting."_

_ "__I-its nice to see you again too!" Watanuki bowed to the spirit. _

_ "__Watanuki!~" Yuko's voice was just in the hallway. "I've decided that I want some sake and sashimi!~" The fridge door closed with a click as the witch leaned into the kitchen, revealing another guest. _

_ "__Akari! How nice to see you again!" Yuko ran over and took her old drinking partner's hand cheerfully. _

_ "__It's nice you see you took, darling Yuko! I was so excited when I received your invitation and can as soon as I could. Now why don't we open a bottle together?" The cat lady smiled. _

_ "__Yes let's!" Yuko turned to her employee. "Watanuki you'll need to bring five bottle of warmed sake into the dining room along with a sashimi platter and some salmon rolls for Doumeki, 'kay?"_

_ "__Who the hell do you think I am, a slave?!" The girl raged, her face red from frustration. _

_ "__You're my slave that's for sure!" The two ladies cackled before walking out of the room to drink. _

_ "__Damn that Yuko!" But contrary to her curses, Watanuki got to work as quickly as possible. The next guests that came in were a pleasant surprise for the girl. _

_ "__Watanuki? Do you need any help in here?" The seer turned around to see the Oden shop foxes standing in the doorway in blue striped kimonos and packages of food in their arms. She'd never been so glad to see them. _

_ "__Yes!" The girl was buried in dishes and food to prepare._

_"__I thought so." The bigger fox replied with a smile. The foxes laughed and came in to help her. _

_ "__Can we play shiritori when we're done?" The little fox asked while he helped Watanuki cook. _

_ "__Sure!" The girl smiled at her little friend. _

_ "__Can we get Mokona to play too?" Watanuki groaned but consented. It would be fun either way. The three of them eventually made their way back inside with more food and drinks (both alcoholic and not) just as the last guest arrived for the evening. The Dream Buyer floated down from the sky with his balloons with a clunk and tied them up so the wind couldn't spirit them away. He then sat at the table with Yuko and Akari and challenged them to a drinking contest. Mokona was playing with Maru and Moro, their Mokona karuta cards strewn all over one of the room's corners for the game. The little fox went to join them after he'd set his platter of food down and tried to get the cards that Mokona was calling out. Maru and Moro were hard to beat, but the three of them were laughing the whole time (except for one instance when the twins got into a competitive fight about who's hand was on who's card). The game got interrupted when a pack of cats that Nekomusume attracted ran through the cards chasing and tussling with each other. That had the four gamers laughing for a good five minutes before they reshuffled the cards for another game. _

_The worst part what when the pipe fox got really, really excited and slithered all around Watanuki wiggling body and then popped out with a kiss on her cheek. Mugetsu then decided it was a good idea to transform, a burst of smoke clouding his change and then he pounced on the poor girl, all his tails swishing in adoration. Many, many kisses were given in about five seconds, the huge fox weighting down the shrieking girl. Watanuki was stuck under Mugestu for the better part of twenty minutes because the whole room was in stitches over her situation. Thank goodness for her, Nekomusume's hoard of cats distracted the dog-like fox and he chased them around the room, hopping off the seer. All the animals rushed outside into the snow until Nekomusume had had enough and jumped in to rescue her beloved friends. After that, Mugetsu couldn't transform back into his pocket-size for and was banished into the corner where he got to eat all the food he wanted, except for tofu. Just as Watanuki was about to go back to the kitchen after taking care of the huge fox, Yuko called her over. _

_ "__Watanuki, why don't you go into your room and change? You've done a hard night's work and I'm sure there's something suitable for you to wear in there for tonight's celebration." The witch winked and Watanuki didn't know whether to be grateful or scared that she was being asked to join the party. Either way, the girl just shrugged and walked out of the room, several pairs of eyes watching her go. _

_Watanuki made her way to the room she slept in when Yuko had her stay over, already untying the bows of her smock and the kerchief on her head. When she slid open the door, everything dropped out of her hands, her mouth agape at the kimono Yuko had left for her on its stand. The cloth was a brilliant silver, shining like a coin in the soft moonlight, embroidered with beautiful lotus blossoms and flying cranes. _

_ "__Oh, wow." She breathed, just staring for a minute before stripping and changing into the kimono and blue under robes. She slipped into her tabi socks and fixed her hair into a bun and inserted the bird accents that Yuko had left on her dresser. Feeling like a princess, Watanuki looked at herself in her mirror. She was beautiful. Watanuki didn't often wear nice things like this and she felt uncomfortable about taking care of the kimono, after all, it wasn't hers. What was most striking about her image was how much she reminded herself of Yuko, standing like an elegant lady with her hair all done up. It was uncanny how just a kimono could change her appearance. Of course she didn't have the chest or the considerable height that her employer had, but nonetheless, if Watanuki acted like a selfish foodie with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and a mysterious allure, she was sure she could pull off a Yuko. The seer gave herself one last look over, twirling around with a huge smile on her face before heading back to the party. All conversation stopped when she walked in, all the eyes in the room on the seer. She blushed slightly at the attention and hid her embarrassment behind confidence. _

_ "__Are you all speechless because I look fantastic?" She asked, displaying the kimono. _

_ "__Watanuki! Who knew you looked good in girl's clothes!~" Yuko giggled. _

_ "__What was that?!" Watanuki snapped, holding a shaking fist in the witch's direction. _

_ "__Well, I hardly ever get to see you in anything other than your school uniform and you can't count that as 'girly clothes' because it's a uniform so I wanted to see how you'd turn out!" The shop keeper explained, appearing next to the girl just to poke her cheek over and over again. _

_ "__So this was an experiment?" Watanuki growled. _

_ "__Yep!~" Yuko replied brightly. _

_ "__I'm going to kill you for making a fool out of me!"_

_ "__But you already do that!" Mokona howled, laughing at the girl. He jumped up on Yuko's shoulder and taunted her some more. "April Fool!~" _

_ "__Fool!~ Fool!~" Maru and Moro chanted. _

_ "__That's it! I'm making stir fry out of you, pork bun!" Watanuki yelled. "And you're gonna get it too!" She pointed and accusing finger at the witch. _

_ "__Who me?" Yuko feigned innocence _

_ "__Yes you!" And with that, the raven started chasing a laughing Yuko and Mokona all around the room while the rest of the room watched in amusement. _

_There was one person who didn't think she was being a fool at that exact moment and it was Doumeki. He'd been watching the girl all night long, his eyes following her as they all helped set up for the party, watched her while cooking, serving, being loud and generally being Watanuki. But the second she walked in the room all dressed up for the New Year, his heart stopped for a moment. The brunette knew that his girlfriend was pretty, but when she cleaned up, Watanuki was a knock out. And the funny thing now, as she was running around the shop chasing after Yuko, she wasn't tripping over her feet in her usual fashion. She was running just as graceful as Yuko could be while being chased. _

_ "__Just look how much fun they're having!" Wari commented, laughing brightly. _

_ "__Yes, they do seem to be enjoying themselves." Kohane added, delicately spooning another bite of rice in her mouth. _

_ "__Hmm." They all sat back and watched Yuko lead Watanuki on with Mokona egging her on. Finally it stopped when Mokona leapt onto Watanuki's face and the two of them crashed to the ground near the main table. When Mokona hopped off, Doumeki swept Watanuki up in his arms and sat her next to him. Before she could say a word, he'd shoved a salmon roll in her mouth to shut her up. "Eat."_

_ "__Bastard." She mumbled through food while they all laughed together. From then on the party was without conflict (if you don't count the fights over who got what alcohol as a conflict). Once every adult was completely drunk on booze and midnight drew nearer, the hosts and their guests all gathered outside with lots of blankets to await the New Year. Doumeki sat with Watanuki in his lap and Kohane and Wari snuggled up next to the both of them, somehow all sharing one blanket. Tanpopo was pleased with his spot among a lot of warm bodies and peeped his happiness in Watanuki's ear. _

_"__He'd better not poop on me." Watanuki said in jest. _

_"__He's a good bird, aren't you Tanpopo?" Wari asked his little friend. The yellow bird chirped once and then pecked Watanuki's head. _

_"__Ow!" The group laughed as her arm snaked out of the blanket to rub her head. Yuko was lounging by Akari and the Dream Buyer with Mokona sitting on her shoulder, all of them still getting drunk, the Oden foxes were sitting together – the little one's eyes almost closing and then shooting awake, not wanting to miss a thing – Nekomusume was padded by cats and very, very far away from the huge pipe fox, Zashiki-Warishi, Ame-Warishi and the Tengu were all sitting together next to Watanuki's group and Maru and Moro were running around everyone until Watanuki yelled at them to sit down. The twins ran to the seer and flopped down, sandwiching her between the two of them and her boyfriend._

_It was almost midnight now, the countdown ready to begin._

_"__60…59…58…57…56…55…54…53…52…51…" They all chanted flipping from watching the countdown on the TV to the sky, waiting for the fireworks to go off. _

_"__50…49…48…47…46…45…44…43…42…41…40..." The Tengu were hovering near the ground, too excited to sit still. Ame-Warishi and Zashiki-Warishi were smiling widely, shouting out the numbers. _

_"__39…38…37…36…35…34…33…32…31..30…" The Oden fox's son was jumping up and down in his father's lap, his ears and tail twitching like crazy while his father just smiled. _

_"__29…28…27…26…25…24…23…22...21…20…" The pipe fox howled, startling all the cats around the porch but the Nekomusume just smiled and called them all back to her. _

_"__19…18…17…16…15…14…13…12…11…" Yuko's pipe appeared out of nowhere and the smoke she puffed out drifted into the air as the Dream Buyer, Akari and she clinked glasses from one last drink in the old year. _

_"__10! 9! 8! 7! 6!" Watanuki looked at her close friends and Maru and Moro, the starlight shining in their eyes. She tipped her head back into Doumeki's chest and found him looking down at her as they counted down. She smiled and he smiled back ever so slightly. _

_"__5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Happy New Year!" Everyone around Watanuki jumped up and cheered as fireworks lit the sky high above the buildings of Tokyo and the temples started ringing their bells across the city. Only three people were still sitting in all the commotion and cheering. Yuko was stilling down, pipe in hand and Mokona bouncing on her head. She looked over to see her Watanuki kissing Doumeki with their first kiss of the year. But she wouldn't be surprised if the kiss actually spanned both the Old and the New Year. They were funny like that. Once Watanuki broke the kiss, she smiled even wider, yanking Doumeki to his feet and jumping up and down with the rest of her friends, the fireworks booming in the sky, waking up the New Year and giving the Old Year a fantastic farewell. _

_And then everybody got drunk all over again. Except the little oden fox. He was fast asleep twenty minutes after midnight, curled up in the corner so he didn't get stepped on. _

Watanuki rubbed her head, finally remembering just how she gained this hangover. Doumeki kept filling up her glass without her knowing it and she just kept right on drinking, to uninhibited to notice. She did remember trying to act out some skits with Wari, stopping Yuko from reading her poetry and then had to stop her again before she read some of the seer's own poetry and for some reason and she thought that all of them tried performing parts of Beethoven's Ninth by buzzing their lips but that was all hazy at this point.

"Well, since no one else is up…" Watanuki flopped back down on her human pillow to snuggle with Doumeki and then threw her arm over her face so the sun wouldn't bother her before going back to sleep. _Well, at least I don't have to cook for three days. We've got enough food to last us until then, unless Yuko and Doumeki get picky. _Watanuki sighed and wedged herself in the crook of Doumeki's arm and body and was just about asleep when she heard,

"Watanuki I need something for this headache." Yuko ordered ever so softly, her own hangover probably a lot worse than the seer's. Despite wanting to go back to sleep, Watanuki got up. _I hate my life, _she thought without really meaning it_. _She sighed again. _The faster I shut her up the faster I can fall back asleep with Doumeki. _She tottered off to the kitchen to search for painkillers for everyone before dumping them on the table, tiptoeing her way across unconscious bodies and flopping down for the last time and falling asleep on Doumeki.

End

A/N: There you go! Here's some stuff you might not know below about Japanese New Year's:

Kodamatsu are Japanese displays similar to flower arranging. They consist of pine, bamboo and ume sprigs arranged so that the three bamboo shoots are at different heights representing heaven, humanity and earth with heaven being the highest and earth the lowest. These New Year's decorations are placed in pairs (representing male and female) at the entrances of homes to welcome ancestral spirits and kami of the harvest. The tree sprigs are bound together with a newly woven rope and placed on a straw mat.

Yes, they do play Beethoven's 9th as a New Year's theme.

The 1st of January is the most busy time for Japanese post offices because they send postcards to friends and family on that day if you get them in the offices by a certain cut off.

Everyone (that's a generalization btw because I don't _know_) switches in their Western style clothing for traditional kimonos for New Year's.

Local temples ring their bells 108 times to symbolize the 108 sins of humanity, and to also cleanse the 108 sins for the New Year.

New Year's is actually celebrated for three days, and that's the reason Watanuki (supposedly) doesn't have to cook. The osechi dishes are non-perishable in a sense because they don't need to be stored or refrigerated.

And that's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it! :3 don't forget to comment if you like it! And Happy New Year!


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